Police investigate threat of shooting at Boulder High School

Fairview High also placed on alert Wednesday

By Mitchell Byars

Daily Camera

Posted:
01/28/2016 01:38:36 PM MST

Click photo to enlarge

Boulder police officers were keeping a close eye on Boulder High Wednesday morning. Extra officers patrolled both Boulder and Fairview high schools Wednesday morning after Boulder High School received a shooting threat the night before.

A shooting threat made against Boulder High School on Tuesday night put both Boulder and Fairview high schools on high alert Wednesday, and police officers will once again be at both schools today as investigators continue to try to find the source of the threat.

The Boulder Valley School District learned of the threats after screen grabs of a threatening message were circulated on social media by students Tuesday night, and parents were notified in an email at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday.

The threat read, "Tomorrow (Wednesday) there will be a shooting at Boulder High school you all better watch out shooting everyone who gets in my way," according to a screen grab obtained by the Daily Camera.

Boulder police spokeswoman Shannon Cordingly confirmed the post involved a shooting threat and said the department is working with the school district to investigate the threat and determine its origin.

Police said they won't release further information, due to the ongoing investigation.

Boulder Valley School District spokesman Briggs Gamblin said the threat came in through Safe2Tell, a hotline for students to anonymously report threats to school or their classmate's safety that was established in 2004.

The threat indicated the shooting would occur in the morning or at lunch on Wednesday, but no incidents were reported at either school, according to Cordingly.

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Boulder and University of Colorado police will once again today have extra officers at the school and on patrols in the neighborhoods surrounding both high schools. No threats were made against Fairview, but officers were placed there as a precaution.

Boulder Valley Superintendent Bruce Messenger said he estimated about 75 percent of Boulder High's roughly 2,000 students were at school before the lunch break. Only about 60 percent completed the day, he said, likely choosing to simply not return after lunch.

Ryan Lesniak, a senior at Boulder High, said he first saw the threat Tuesday night when his friend posted an image of it to Facebook. He said a lot of classes at the school were empty and that many of the students and faculty seemed on edge.

"People are kind of looking over their shoulders passing through the hallways," Lesniak said.

Lesniak considered not coming to school, but after seeing the extra police presence and talking to administration about the added security measures, he felt safe.

"They made me feel super comfortable," he said.

Evelyn Coleman came at mid-morning to check on her son, a freshman at the school, and was also comforted by the extra police presence.

"There are cops out front, cops in the parking lot and cops inside," Coleman said. "They seem pretty on top of it."

Coleman said her son was nervous, but decided he would stay at school and finish. She said it was alarming to hear about the threat, but said she has been pleased with how it has been handled.

"It was kind of a shock, because it's Boulder," Coleman said. "But I'm satisfied that it's nothing concrete, but that they are still doing everything to keep the kids safe."

But some parents elected to keep their students home in the wake of the threat.

"A very sad sign of the times when you add 'threats of violence days' to the reason your child stays home from school," tweeted Richard Betts. "One must take it seriously."

Gamblin said the school was trying to operate with minimal disturbances despite the threat.

"We're just trying to keep things as normal as possible," Gamblin said.

But senior Ave Peters said it was hard to feel like it was a normal school day with all of the officers and empty classrooms.

"Half the school is gone," Peters said. "You feel like you shouldn't be here."

But Peters said she wasn't that worried about the threat being genuine.

"Things like that happen a lot," Peters said. "It's a lot of pranking, and it's usually for attention."

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